A pet owner has shared footage of the special greeting her rescue dog gives her which she has dubbed his “I love you” stretch.
Steph from Dorset in the U.K. has always been close to her six-year-old cockapoo, Moose. “We rehomed him at 18 months old and he’s changed our world,” she told Newsweek. “We treat him as if he were our child and I’m not ashamed to say that.”
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Steph’s not alone in that respect. A survey of 2,000 cat and dog owners conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Pet Honesty found one in four referred to their pet as their “child.”
But Steph has more reason than most to feel close to Moose given the challenges they have overcome together. “He’s come a long way since we adopted him,” she said. “He was nervous of men and children at first but loves everyone now.”
Where that nervousness came from remains a mystery. “Unfortunately we don’t know much about Moose’s life before us,” Steph admitted. “It makes me sad that we don’t have that puppy stage of his life or any photos of him before we got him.”
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But whatever happened in Moose’s past, he’s living his best life now. “He loves the beach and loves to swim,” Steph said. “Moose loves to make it his mission to get as muddy as possible on walks. He’s quite mischievous and likes to play with anything that’s not your usual dog toy because he knows he shouldn’t be doing it.”
If Steph is head over heels about Moose, then the feeling certainly appears to be mutual. Proof of that came in a video posted to TikTok under the handle moosethecockapoo_, which showcases the special greeting Moose reserves for her and her alone.
In the clip, viewed 4.7 million times, Steph can be seen standing in her kitchen as Moose approaches. She bends down, gesturing to Moose with her hands. In response, Moose stretches out in front of her. Steph then crouches down to embrace her pet pooch before the cockapoo rises again for another cuddle.
“It’s something we’ve noticed he does just to me, we’ve never seen him do it to anyone else or even with my partner who is very sad that he doesn’t get the same greeting,” Steph said.
Though she can’t say for certain, Steph has a pretty good idea what the stretch means based on her own knowledge and experience. “I’ve worked with dogs and have been lucky enough to work with some experts in canine doggy language,” she said.
“I’m not a behaviorist myself but there’s a lot of research into different signs to look out for when it comes to our pets. In fact, there’s lots of different reasons why dogs stretch. The greeting stretch for example is very different to a play bow or calming stretch and is commonly only done towards loved ones hence the ‘I love you’ stretch.”
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Susan Nilson, a professionally accredited cat and dog training and behavior expert, also took a look at the footage. “To me, it looks like the woman is cueing the stretching ‘downward dog’ behavior by giving the dog the visual signal of lowering her hands,” she told Newsweek. “This is most likely a behavior that she has trained and that the dog is now doing on cue because he has learned that he will be rewarded with the owner’s attention.”
Nilson was keen to stress that Steph’s assessment of the situation did have some merit. “The way the dog approaches to get even closer and leans into the woman indicates a strong sense of trust and bonding. The dog very much wants to interact with her at that moment and is happy to see her and be with her,” she said.
Moose’s greeting was not one she felt all dogs reserved for that “special” person in their lives though. “All dogs are different and will greet their owners in their own individual way based on the relationship they have, previous training history, and the dog’s own unique personality and the way they express themselves,” she said. “While there are plenty of species-typical behaviors and postures that all dogs engage in in specific contexts, this particular action as a greeting behavior for a favorite person is not one of them.”
Nilson concluded that Moose’s behavior was likely to be specific to his relationship with Steph. That’s just her view though, and whatever the reality behind his stretch, Steph remains “honored” and “grateful” to receive this kind of response. “I can’t begin to describe the love I have for Moose,” she said. “I can’t imagine a world without him. It’s funny, he’s who I spend the majority of my time with so you get so in tune with his habits and behaviors.”
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
